The library research instruction for this course is "flipped."
The tutorial will remain available all semester so you can review it as needed.
Use built-in features to filter out noise. You can limit by:
Use quotation marks to search phrases ("air pollution"), and asterisks to truncate words (environment*).
Use the Cite button to get an auto-generated citation. APA 6th edition is closest to the Environment Studies departmental style, but you still need to proofread.
If you don't find the sources you need in ProQuest Central, my next recommendation is Environment Complete. This database doesn't cover as many sources as ProQuest, but the sources are very focused on the environment.
As you begin to learn about a new environmental issue, it is helpful to read an overview and identify various viewpoints on that issue. Try these research tools at the beginning of your research. Remember, they are not peer-reviewed - but they provide valuable context that will help you understand the peer-reviewed journal articles you also use to write this paper.
The Twelfth International Conference on Grey Literature in Prague in 2010 arrived at the following definition:
"Grey literature stands for manifold document types produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats that are protected by intellectual property rights, of sufficient quality to be collected and preserved by libraries and institutional repositories, but not controlled by commercial publishers; i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body."
Traditionally, the term gray literature has included:
There are also many other forms of gray literature, including: Newsletters, technical notes, working papers, white papers, patents, and more.
To learn more about gray literature, visit the Gray Literature Research Guide!
The Environmental Studies department generally recommends using APA style.
Most formatting issues are addressed in this quick guide from University of Alberta Library. For a deeper dive, consult Purdue OWL APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th ed).
Alternatively, visit the Research Help Desk to consult our physical copy of the APA Guide:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by To help with formatting citations, you may find tools like Zotero or Refworks useful. Ask a librarian for a quick tour of what these tools can do. You will definitely love using them by the time you write longer papers like your capstone or thesis!
For more information about citation styles and citation management software see the citation guide.
The Purdue OWL guide has more information on how in-text citations should look. There are great examples of how to properly format a journal article on the guide as well! You may also view a sample paper to look at formatting and more examples of in text citations and reference list citations.